Harness for hearing aid units



#495127, 1954 H. HERRICK HARNESS FQR HEARING AID UNITS Filed Oct. 3,1952 INVENTOR. HERRICK TEL I gr W y i f I arron nzys Patented Apr. 27,1954 UNITED STATES TENT OFFICE HARNESS FOR HEARING AID UNITS HelenHerrick, Oakland, Calif.

Application October 3, 1952, Serial No. 312,971 4 Claims. (c1. 224-5)This invention relates to a harness for supporting the battery andamplifying mechanism of a hearing aid, and particularly to such aharness which may be worn by small children.

The manner of carrying a hearing aid, as far as small children areconcerned, presents considerable diillculties due to the fact that theirclothing often does not have the necessary pockets to support thebattery and amplifying mechanism, and also due to the fact that theactivities of the normal small child are such that the amplifyingmechanism is subject to excessive vibration and shock, which are apt toseriously damage it. 7

In accordance with the present invention, there is provided a harnesswhich may be worn over a childs shirt or dress, but under any coat whicha child may wear, which has a pocket for receiving the battery andamplifying unit of such size that the battery and amplifying unit willfit snugly therein, so that it will be subjected to a minimum ofvibration and shock during the normal activities of the child. Thepocket preferably is formed in a waistband section of the harness whichis supported on the child by shoulder straps. One of the shoulderstraps, preferably the one which passes over the shoulder of the leastpreferred hand of the child is provided with openings through which thecord is laced. By means of such openings the cord may be laced throughthe shoulder straps of the harness to the back thereof from which itemerges to be connected to the earpiece. The construction of the harnessis such that the shoulder straps and waistband, respectively, may belengthened to permit enlargement of the harness as the child grows.

The invention will be further described in connection with theaccompanying drawings, but

it is to be understood that such further disclosure Fig. 5 is across-sectional View taken on line 5-5 of Fig. 1. 1

Referring to the drawings, the harness, which may be made of anyflexible material, but preferably of a relatively heavy,washable textilematerial, comprises a waistband l which isadapted a pair of shoulderstraps 2 and 3.

- ends of the straps 6, 6' have buckles 8, 8' secured to them foradjustably receiving the straps i, l to permit adjustment of thewaistband to the size of the particular child wearing the harness. Thebuckles preferably are of the type through which the straps are threadedand which have serrated edges, such as shown at 9, which grip the strapsthreaded through them, so that the greater the strain which is appliedto the straps, the tighter they will be gripped by the buckles. Suchbuckles are of well known construction and need no further description.

At the front of the waistband and directly below the front ends of theshoulder straps, the Waistband is provided with a pocket It. This pocketpreferably is formed by a pair of vertical lines of stitching H and Hextending through the folds of the waistband and by not stitchingtogether the upper edges of the folds between the lines of stitching Hand li' The pocket ii! is for receiving the battery and amplifying unitl2 of a hearing aid. The pocket has a flap closure l3 stitched to theback fold of the waist band, within the pocket. The free end of the flapclosure normally is secured in its closed position by separablefasteners it and it of the gripper type. These fasteners have male andfemale members carried, respectively, by the outer fold of the pocketand the flap closure.

The use of the gripper type fasteners for securing the pocket flapclosed, and the type of buckles above described, are particularlydesirable, since both not only are readily available and easilymanipulated, but are familiar to children since they appear on mostcommerciallymade garments which they wear in their every day clothing.

One of the shoulder straps, preferably the one opposite the preferredhand of. the child, is provided' with a series of openings iii of thebutton- I V holetype, through which the conducting cord ll from thehearing aid unit i2 is laced. In her-- nesses of the size for mostchildren, three open-v ings l lforthe lacing 'of thercord aresuflicient,

the top of the shoulder of the child. The crossstrap 4 is also providedwith an opening it, similar to the opening 16, through which the cordalso is laced. By having the cord ll laced through the openings 16 and18, it is caused to lie relatively flat against the shoulder straps, sothat there is no looping of it, such as would enable it to be readilycaught during the normal play or other activities of the child wearingthe harness. Thus, breakage of the cord and possible damage to the unit[2 or the earpiece i9 is reduced to a minimum. The end of the cord ii isprovided with the usual type of pronged connector 2i for insertion intothe usual openings in the earpiece. The length of the cord is sufiioientthat after it has been threaded through the openings 55 in the shoulderstrap and the opening 18 in the back strap, it may be passed upwardlyalong the back of the child, behind his ear, and connected to theearpiece.

The back ends of the shoulder straps 2 and 3 are secured to the top ofthe back of the waistband by stitching 22. However, the length of theshoulder straps is such that a portion of substantial length extendsdownwardly into the waistband between the folds thereof, where they arecompletely concealed from view.

By having the waistband adjustable by means of the buckles 8 and S, andby having the shoulder straps of such length that substantial portionsthereof extend downwardly into the waistband, the harness is madeadjustable so that it will not have to be replaced as the child grows.The adjustable buckles provide ample adjustment for the increase in thesize of the body of the child; and by ripping the stitching 22 andpulling the back ends of the shoulder straps outwardly from thewaistband to the desired extent, and restitching, adequate adjustment ismade for the growth of the child in height. Consequently, the harnessmay be worn by a child for two or three years.

The width of the waistband will be adjusted to the length of theparticular battery and amplifying unit I2, and as indicated above, thewidth of the pocket will be such that the unit snugly fits therein. Thesnug fitting of the unit 12 in the pocket is important, since otherwisethe unit 622 would be permitted to shift and vibrate in the pocket, withpossible resulting damage thereto.

Breakage or damage to the battery and amplifying unit 52 is reduced to aminimum since the child does not touch it other than to turn it on andoff, and adjust the volume of amplification. In a similar manner, damageto the earpiece is reduced to a minimum, since the lacing of the cord Elthrough the openings in the shoulder strap 3 and the cross-strap dcauses the cord to lie close to the body of the wearer, so that there isless danger of it being caught with resulting jerking of the earpiecefrom the ear of the child.

While the invention has been described in connection with the preferredembodiment thereof, it is to be understood that various changes may bemade in the details of construction thereof without departing from thespirit of the invention.

I claim:

1. A harness for a hearing aid unit comprising a waistband, saidwaistband comprising material folded upon itself with the upper edgeportions of the folds being secured together, shoulder straps havingtheir front end portions secured to the front of the waistband and theirback end portions to the back of the waistband, and a pocket for ahearing aid unit at the front of the waistband, one end portion of eachof the shoulder straps being secured to the waistband near the topthereof and the shoulder straps at such end each having portions ofsubstantial length extending into the waistband between the foldsthereof below the point of attachment of said end portions of theshoulder straps to the waistband, whereby the said ends of the shoulderstraps may be unsecured from the waistband, the ends of the shoulderstraps relatively adjusted with respect to the waistband, and theshoulder straps re-secured to the waistband at a different point toadjust the effective length of the shoulder straps.

2. A harness for a hearing aid comprising a waistband, a pocket for ahearing aid unit in the front of the waistband, shoulder straps havingtheir front end portions secured to the front of the waistband and theirback end portions secured to the back of the waistband, and across-strap connecting the back portions of the shoulder straps at adistance above the waistband, said cross-strap having means forreceiving and guiding a cord from a hearing aid in said pocket and formaintaining a portion thereof at the back of the wearer, whereby whensuch a cord is passed over a wearers shoulder and through said receivingand guiding means it may extend from said receiving and guiding meansupwardly along the wearers back and behind his ear to an ear piece inthe wearers ear.

3. A harness for a hearing aid as set forth in claim 2 in which thepocket is positioned directly beneath the connection of the front endportions of the shoulder straps to the waistband so that the straincaused by the weight of a hearing cl in the pocket is taken directly bythe shoulder straps, and in which the cord receiving and guiding meansof the cross-strap is an opening in the cross-strap through which thecord is adapted to pass.

4. A harness for a hearing aid comprising a waistband formed of a bandof material folded upon itself and secured at the top, shoulder strapshaving their front end portions secured to the front of the waistbandand their back end portions secured to the back of the waistband, atleast one of the end portions of each shoulder strap being stitched tothe waistband between the folds thereof and near the top thereof along aline spaced a substantial distance from the adjacent end of the shoulderstrap, such end portions of each of the shoulder straps beyond saidlines of stitching extending into the waistband tween the folds thereofwhereby the stitching which secures said end portions of the shoulderstraps to the waistband may be ripped out, the ends of the shoulderstraps relatively adjusted to the waistband and the shoulder strapsrestitched to the waistband along a different line to adjust theefiective length of the shoulder straps.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS NumberName Date 1,486,470 Welch Mar. 11, 1924 1,587,716 Fritsch June 8, 19262,089,402 Murray Aug. 10, 1937 2,156,504 Liss May 2, 1939 2,372,971Moore Apr. 3, 1945 2,441,11 Lambert May 4., 1948 FOREIGN PATENTS NumberCountry Date 510,026 Great Britain July 26, 1939

